Indie Publishing – a case study.

Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things, my fourth Tudor novel, stepped out into the published world on January 15th, 2021. I self-published this novel.

Why? Simple. I no longer desired publication by small publishers.

 I had signed with my first small publisher in 2002 and continued to have my novels published with small publishers until late 2018. I’ll never regret being published with small publishers. It took ten years to find a publisher for Dear Heart, How Like You This?, my first novel.

Ten years of yearly or twice-yearly rejection. But being a committed writer is akin to walking on your own version of the hero’s journey. It’s a challenging road. If we want to get somewhere, we must pick ourselves up when we fall down the pit holes on this writing road of ours and persevere. Becoming published with my first small publisher also opened the door to my employment as a tutor of writing at Swinburne in 2010.

That important affirmation of signing with a publisher who loved my work also gave me permission to write my next novel. It led to two writing awards and becoming, for a few years, an author with an agent — thanks to the interest of a Hollywood producer (true story) in optioning my first novel. Alas — the interest soon came to no taking up of film options, but I ended up with an agent. Considering I was then writing what I hoped would be the follow up novel to my first novel, I counted my blessings. 

 While I’m one of the many writers not celebrated for any maths skills, I think it is easy to see the sizable time gap between the publication of my first novel and my second. The explanation for that is not easy to admit. The first version of my novel about Katherine of Aragon failed to work. After its twelfth rejection, my agent also lost interest in my novel. She asked me to think about writing a young adult historical fiction, believing she could sell that.

 The feedback I received from publishers about my failed novel made it clear I would need to rewrite the entire novel from a child’s point of view to that of one of my adult characters. Faced with dismantling my first vision for the work to discover a new story heart, I became so depressed I dealt with it by embarking on a PhD in writing. The Light in the Labyrinth was my creative artefact. It was also the young adult novel suggested by my agent, who by this time was no longer my agent. By the time I started my PhD, sales for my only published novel had nose-dived and it wasn’t worth her while to keep me on as one of her authors. 

 The Light in the Labyrinth gave voice to Catherine Carey, the niece of Anne Boleyn. My first publisher offered to publish it in 2014 – and it ended up as a bestseller—just before I became Dr Wendy. Despite the financial success of this book, I also experienced frustrations. Many frustrations. Again, my small publisher could not place this book into bookstores.

 I saw this problem repeated when another smaller publisher published my third novel, the rewritten first part of my Katherine of Aragon story. While both of my small publishers sold my books in all the usual online publishing places, not having my books in bookshops gnawed away at me. I grew increasingly doubtful about the validity of this publishing model.

 The first year of The Duty of Daughters’ published life was difficult. Author copies cost far too much for me to buy more than a few copies of my own books. Those copies proved difficult to sell while making a worthwhile profit. This was especially true when I was doing workshops or talks with Indie authors. Most of these Indie authors were also friends. They told me bluntly that I would only get ahead financially if I took control of my publishing journey. It was a painful truth to hear. But they also offered to guide me about how to get my novels selling again. Witnessing their success also persuaded me this was the right path for me to take.

In the past, my mind view linked self-publishing with failure. 2017 saw that mind view shift as I watched the success of my Indie author friends. They earned far more than the pittance I was receiving for three novels. It became abundantly clear they were moving in the right direction, while my income continued to be curtailed by the vision and courage of my two small publishers. 

 Also, by 2017, I faced up to the reality of how little my first two novels had earned me from 2015 to 2017. I also realised the publisher of my first two novels had lost heart in the business and no longer wanted to spend money to promote my novels. I now had a choice—invest money in promoting these works for a publisher no longer interested in spending money on these works. Or—to ask for my rights back, which, under my contract, I had the right to do, and see if I could change the flat line of sales through my belief in my work — and my belief my novels deserved readers. When I told my publisher I wanted to self-publish my novels, he seemed expecting it, and relieved. He also offered to mentor me as I took my first steps as a self-published author. 

He gave me a list of ‘must do’ to tick off:

•       I had to work out the name for my imprint.

•       I needed to buy ISBNs (International Standard Book Number) for this imprint.

 • I also had to get a Kindle Direct Publishing account and upload my files for the eBooks.

•       He also advised me to have a separate website for that imprint.

 I sometimes wonder if another website was truly necessary—but I like the separation it provides between my author website and the ecommerce website of my imprint. I also hope to build on the ecommerce possibilities of my website in the future.

  Once I did those three things, the publisher stopped selling (or trying to sell) my books and gave me all my files. I regard myself as fortunate that we had such a long association that all this part went smoothly. My now former publisher was even happy for me to keep the covers he had designed.

 Next — after first making certain that the interior file and cover files were now stamped with the name of my imprint, I had to get an account with Ingrams and upload the interior and cover files for the physical books. I had to make my novels available for sale and work out prices that would sell but would still give me a profit. My logic for my profit margin is that my books should at least earn me the price of a coffee. 

 2017 to 2019 was a learning curve — and I am still learning. But, thanks to amazon ads – which I paid Booksgosocial to do for me —my book sales improved.

  It did not take long before the close to flatline of book sales became a beating heart again, and I began to hope again. Could self-publishing be the way for me to achieve my dream of supporting the financial needs of my life through writing? For years, I had worked as an educator for the income necessary to subsidise my life. While I love teaching and mentoring emerging writers, I have always believed I could be financially successful as a writer—if life allowed me more time to write. My belief had already proven a reality. The Light in the Labyrinth was my PhD artefact. I wrote it while supported by a three-year PhD scholarship (bliss). In its first year of its publishing life, The Light in the Labyrinth proved I could write a bestseller. For one lovely year, that novel provided income for me to just write. It even paid for another research trip to England and an electric bike. I count myself as extremely fortunate as a writer to have experienced that financial success at least once in my writing life.

Six months after making my decision to start my imprint, I knew Indie publishing had been the right decision for my writing career. But I realised I needed to publish more books under Poesy Quill Publishing to become a self-supporting writer. The more books I have under my belt, the more chance to achieve the money I need to be a ‘full time’ writer. 

By 2019, my book sales had improved so much I asked for the rights of my third novel back from my second publisher, the first part of my Katherine of Aragon story, and began mapping out my plan to publish its sequel.

My first two novels had been previously published. That meant the publisher had control of editing, book design and cover art. The publisher paid for these costs and had final say about everything that needed doing before my novels stepped into the published world. This was not the case with my fourth novel. Everything was up to me to get right.

It was time to lift my game—and build of what I had learnt. Stop toddling and really walk this Indie journey of mine. 

 I needed to do research to work out a plan.

  I was extremely fortunate here. One of my students was majoring in marketing, and she used my Indie publishing journey as a project, with the view of growing Poesy Quill Publishing into a business offering my expertise to other writers. I paid her to keep my newsletter active in the lead up to my novel’s release. But first, I needed to be certain that my book was ready for the next step. Again, I was fortunate. I have been a published author now for twenty years and belong to a wonderful writing tribe. Finding beta readers willing to take the time to read my new novel was easy and affirming.

Once I received their feedback and reassurance that the story worked, I paid for a professional editor, which was my biggest expense. But, believe me, a professional editor is necessary if you wish to achieve any kind of success for your novel or nonfiction book. We all know that the publishing world is competitive—and it sees countless books published each year. Everything you do prior to publishing your book must be part of your strategy to ensure its success. And it is possible. One of my writing colleagues sold over 20,000 copies of one of her series and now earns enough to support herself through writing.

 But success does not happen in a vacuum—or without a lot of hard work. I treat self-publishing as a business. This means educating myself about what I need to know as a self-publisher and working out my key business goals:

For example:

• I am the owner of PQP and responsible for its profits and losses. 
• I oversee the achievement of PQP’s business and marketing goals. 
• I keep my bookkeeping up to date. 
• I pay bills, do banking and follow up any money owed to PQP. 
• I maintain and manage my two websites and ensure they are up to date. 
• I keep writing to add to PQP current publishing list. 
• I produce a monthly newsletter for my subscribers. 

 The publishing landscape for writers has changed immensely in the last decade or more.  It is my belief now that if the Indie model is a far better way forward for authors than signing with small publishers. Even if their hearts are in the right place, they can only offer you as much as what you can do for yourself. Self-publishing my work has given me hope of subsidising myself through writing. I only increase the likelihood of this through writing and publishing more of my works under my imprint.   

 I also always remember success does not happen in a vacuum. As well my Indie published friends, I have been fortunate to have had support from others in my Indie journey. For example, a fund-raising campaign allowed readers to pre-order copies of All Manner of Things and provided the money to pay for my editing and book production costs. That meant my new novel was earning a profit very soon after its publication.

The world of publishing has changed. And it is an exciting change. Power is now in the hands of writers to drive their own publishing journeys.  For myself, I took in my hands the power to determine my direction for my writing career. I make the publishing decisions for the bulk of my work. I’m a creator with the freedom to create what I want to create.

While I have signed with a small publisher for Shades of Yellow, my fifth novel, it is simply because they offered me a publishing opportunity I could not refuse. There is nothing wrong with being an indie author.